How Many Mint Juleps Are Served At The Kentucky Derby May 5, 2025

What's up mi gente. I know today is the 5th of May aka Cinco de Mayo aka Cinco de Drinko. Instead of focusing on this made-up obnoxious drinking holiday, I'm going to focus on the official cocktail of the Kentucky Derby: The Mint Julep. The 2025 edition of "The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports" is in the books and I was thinking to myself: How Many Mint Jules are sold at Churchill Downs. 

Now I did a small post on my Instagram in September 2024 on Honey Deuce, which is the official cocktail of the U.S. Open Tennis tournament. In the post I focused on the rise of the price of the cocktail from $14 in 2012 to $23 during the last tournament. The USTA announced that a total of 550,000 Honey Deuces were served during the 14 days of the 2024 U.S. Open. Crazy 🤯. How about the Juleps?

The article The 150th Kentucky Derby By The Numbers by Caleb Stultz from the Leo Weekly website states that it was expected that at $22 dollars a cocktail, 125,000 Mint Juleps were going to be served during the day's festivities. That's almost a quarter of the Honey Deuce cocktails sold during the 14 days of the U.S. Open. And that's not counting the 15,000 gallons of Bourbon, 85,000 Oaks Lilies, 425,000 cans of beer and other spirits that were expected to be sold. Double 🤯🤯. So what is a Mint Julep. 

Way back in 2013 I wrote the following post Kentucky Derby Day At The Vault at Pfaff's. In said post, I visited a bar that was showing the Derby on a big screen. I hadn't had a Mint Julep up to that point, so this is what I thought of it:

"The Mint Julep is a very simple cocktail to make. Usually, you would make it in a Copper (or another metal) Julep cup but since this was a somewhat high-volume event, not having the cup for the Juleps is excusable. I had never had a Mint Julep before; I was curious as to how it tasted. The cocktail was nice and light. There was also a subtle sweetness to the cocktail that seemed to mingle well with the bourbon. Since I had to go to work right after, I tried to pace myself since I could see myself quickly sucking the Mint Julep down. On a hot summer day that can be a dangerous thing to do."

Here is the recipe for the cocktail from the official Bourbon of the Kentucky Derby Woodford Reserve:

The traditional Derby Day cocktail, and a southern ritual crafted from bourbon, simple syrup and mint.

INGREDIENTS

2 OZ. Straight Bourbon Whiskey
1/2 OZ. Woodford Reserve® Mint Julep Cocktail Syrup
3 Fresh Mint Leaves
Crushed Ice

INSTRUCTIONS

STEP 1: Express the essential oils in the mint and rub them inside the glass.
STEP 2: To the same glass, add simple syrup, bourbon, and crushed ice.
STEP 3: Stir.
STEP 4: Garnish with more ice, fresh mint, and powdered sugar.

Did you all cash in on the race? What do you think about the classic Mint Julep? Yea? Nay? Meh? Let me know in the comments. I have a side post on the aforementioned Oaks Lilly cocktail coming up next. Keep an eye out for it. 

Until Then May You Have Some Happy, Safe and Responsible Drinking,
SiscoVanilla

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